If you’re not buying, chances are you’re selling or consolidating. M&A activity is running hot across the telecommunications and tech industry. Some deals may be big multi-billion dollar moves, while others are not as flashy.
Thus, we decided to keep track of it all.
Here’s our rundown of the M&A movers and shakers in 2025, which will be updated throughout the year.
2025 M&A deals
Airspan
Equipment vendor Airspan in February entered a definitive agreement to acquire Corning’s wireless business, which includes the latter’s distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cell RAN products.
Financial details of the purchase were not disclosed, but Corning’s assets could strengthen Airspan’s position in the open RAN and private networks space.
CityFibre
CityFibre, a U.K.-based open access network operator, announced in March it will acquire ISP Connexin’s full fiber infrastructure to expand its footprint by up to 185,000 premises.
The operator plans to integrate Connexin’s XGS-PON network later this year. “We look forward to playing an active role in the sector’s accelerating consolidation in 2025,” stated CityFibre CEO Greg Mesch.
In the cloud world, Google struck a $32 billion deal to buy cybersecurity company Wiz, a move that has apparently been in the works for over a year.
Wiz would give Google a strong foothold in the emerging Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) market. But it’s unclear whether the transaction would make it past regulators.
Nokia
Okay, Nokia technically announced its intent to acquire optical vendor Infinera for $2.3 billion in June 2024. But it officially closed the deal in late February, which will be key for the Finnish vendor’s newfound data center and cloud foray.
Less than a month after finalizing the deal, Nokia launched a slate of new optical products.
Qualcomm
Not wanting to be left off the AI bandwagon, Qualcomm kicked off April by announcing its acquisition of Movian AI, the generative AI division of VinAI. You may not have heard of it, but VinAI's generative AI team is led by a former Google DeepMind research scientist named Hung Bui. He is joining Qualcomm as part of the deal.
Qualcomm said the move will strengthen its AI R&D capabilities and "expedite the creation of advanced AI solutions for products like smartphones, PCs, software-defined vehicles, and more."
ServiceNow
Business transformation platform and frequent telecom partner ServiceNow is looking to boost its CRM capabilities with the acquisition of Logik.ai, a company which provides AI-powered configure, price, quote (CPQ) tools. ServiceNow said the addition of Logik.ai's toolset help "streamline complex selling processes and unlock more efficient self-service capabilities for customers and partners."
SoftBank
Japanese telecom giant SoftBank in March made a move to scoop up U.S.-based semiconductor design company Ampere for $6.5 billion in a deal expected to close later this year. SoftBank indicated the move will help it secure a leg up with access to sustainable AI compute based on the ARM compute platform.
Check our sister-site's reporting on the deal here.
Swisscom
Switzerland telecom operator Swisscom kicked off 2025 by closing its acquisition of Vodafone Italia. Through this transaction, Swisscom will combine its Fastweb fixed broadband offering with Vodafone Italia’s mobile services.
“The combined entity will offer innovative, competitively priced converged services to Italian consumers and businesses,” stated Swisscom in a press release.
T-Mobile
The carrier in April officially got the green light to close its joint venture with EQT to acquire fiber-to-the-home provider Lumos. Approval came shortly after T-Mobile updated its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.
With the JV, T-Mobile is targeting 12-15 million "or more" homes passed with fiber by the end of 2030.
Zayo
Long-haul fiber player Zayo in March scooped up Crown Castle’s fiber assets for $4.25 billion. With the purchase, Zayo will add 90,000 miles to its network and further pursue growth in the booming AI and data center space.
The acquisition comes as the state of Crown Castle’s fiber biz has been shaky for years.